Latest UFC Hall of Fame inductee: Saku

speeds · Jun 3, 2017

Saku is being inducted in the "pioneer" category.

He only fought twice in the UFC but was a revolutionary fighter in PRIDE.

Saku kept taking fights up until 2015.

speeds · Jun 4, 2017

Big Dave sums it up...

The triumphant and tragic career of Kazushi Sakuraba will likely best be remembered for May 1, 2000, when he put on a performance that will almost surely never be duplicated in MMA competition. In one night, Sakuraba became a national sports hero in Japan and the catalyst for the heyday of MMA in that country.

Sakuraba only fought twice in the UFC, both fights on the same night and against the same opponent, in winning one of the stranger tournaments in company history. But for his success in building the sport in Japan — beating seven UFC champions, most much larger than he was — Sakuraba was announced on Saturday’s UFC 212 show as the latest inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame, in the Pioneer wing.

Sakuraba will be honored on July 6 as part of International Fight Week in Las Vegas, in a class that will include previously announced inductees Urijah Faber, Maurice Smith and long-time matchmaker Joe Silva. The class will also include the induction of a fight that took place at least five years ago, which will be announced at a later date.

Sakuraba competed 17 years ago in the Tokyo Dome in what was the single greatest one-night, eight-man tournament the sport had ever seen — and still, to this day, has ever seen — before a crowd of more than 38,000 fans.

While he normally fought between 183 and 190 pounds without weight cutting, circumstances saw him show up at 174 pounds, making him the lightest man in the openweight tournament that featured some of the most powerful heavyweights of the era, including eventual winner Mark Coleman, plus Gary Goodridge, Mark Kerr, Igor Vovchanchyn and Kazuyuki Fujita. In his first round fight, Sakuraba was to face Royce Gracie in what was a major grudge match.

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speeds · Jun 5, 2017

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Latest UFC Hall of Fame inductee: Saku

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Latest UFC Hall of Fame inductee: Saku

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speeds $2.50 highball, $1.50 beer Staff Member Administrator GFX Team

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